In a bid to expedite the execution of road construction projects, which remain stuck due to delay in forest department clearance, the State Government has decided to clear 260 pending road projects by December 31. Besides, 1,261 projects will be cleared by February 15, 2015. The State Government has instructed the district magistrates to ensure all blockades are cleared and the projects are completed by the deadline.
Besides, the State has requested the Union Government to transfer BRO Road to the jurisdiction of PWD and also to provide the department with the required equipments so as to enable it to complete the projects on time. This was disclosed by secretary PWD Amit Singh Negi while interacting with media at Dehradun on Monday.
It has been noticed that the forest department dithering on green-lighting has resulted in several motor road or bridge construction projects remaining stuck. To expedite the process of getting No Objection Certificates (NOC) from the Forest department, the district magistrates have been asked to convene meetings with the concerned forest officials at their respective offices every Friday 3 pm. The Chief Secretary might talk to the DMs through video-conferencing. Finally, the Chief Minister will review the progress reports.
The focus is on ensuring forest clearance for all such projects by February 15 next. Notably, during the winter, no black top work is done. Thus, the engineers have time to get focused on obtaining the NoCs from the Forest department. The PWD engineers have been categorically asked to be active in their jurisdictional areas.
Once the clearance is given 6,000 kilometre stretch of new roads will be added to what is existing in the State. Around half of these roads will be located in five disaster-affected districts -- Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi.
Three new divisions are being created- the division for Rishikesh-Rudraprayag road would be at Srinagar; that of Rudraprayag to Gauri Kund division at Rudraprayag or Guptkashi and that for Tanakpur to Pithoragarh division at lohaghat.
Besides, the Union Government has sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore in principle for the construction of roads in Uttarakhand, Negi said. It will be executed by the three agencies- State PWD, BRO and NHAI. Besides, three roads, which were built by BRO at the expense of Rs 222 crore would also be transferred to the PWD. For this, the State Government requested the Centre to lend BRO heavy equipment and sites as well. “They readily agreed and so we would surely execute the projects within the stipulated time,” Negi said.
“As far as budget expenditure is concerned, PWD annual budget expenditure has gone up by Rs 250 crore because in the last financial year we spent Rs 500 crore till November 2013 but this year we spent Rs 750 crore till November 2014,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Union Government has upgraded three State roads to National Highway - Purkaji-laksar-Haridwar, Kund-Ukhimath-Gopeshwar and Pannar-Gangolihaat-Berinaag-Bageshwar. With this, the State Government would no longer be accountable for their maintenance. From now onwards, these roads will be maintained by the Union Government, Negi said.